Speech
on the Occasion of His Elevation to the Episcopate
Archbishop
Nikon (Rklitsky)
June
13/26, 1948, in St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Lakewood*
If it were to
happen to any one of us, that messengers might come to him from the
king or some other mighty ruler, and informed him that the king had
decided to don him with princely honors and make him his collaborator,
how greatly would that man rejoice and be glad, joined in his
rejoicing by his relatives, friends, and acquaintances.
Something
immeasurably greater has taken place with me today. I stand before
you, messengers of the King, but not an earthly one, but the King of
kings and Lord of lords; I recall now the words of the holy martyress
Agnes (commemorated January 21), who spoke of the immeasurable
supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ over the whole world in every
wealth, glory, and beauty.
"He placed upon me," said the holy martyress,
"adornments far greater than anything earthly, and betrothed me
with the ring of His faith. He placed upon me the honors of spiritual
beauty. He laid precious stones on my neck, placed priceless emerald
earrings on my ears, girded me with bright, shining pearls, placed a
sign on my brow, clothed me in gold-hewn garment, and adorned me with
innumerable necklaces. Besides these He has shown me countless
treasures, of which He has promised me possession, if I remain
faithful to Him. He is far nobler, His power greater, His aspect more
charming in my sight, His love sweeter to my heart, overcoming any
other grace. His ministers are angels, the sun and moon marvel at His
beauty; at His command the dead are resurrected; at his touch the sick
are healed; His resources never fail, his riches never decrease. In
Him have I pledged my faith, I have vowed to be entirely His."
And so
in the name of this King you, O hierarchs of God, pass to me His
sweetest command to climb the high mountain, to draw near to Him, to
elevate my soul and mind, and to be numbered among the Apostolic
successors. How can my heart not rejoice and be glad when I hear such
news from you?
But
woe is unto me if I, distracted by my joy, forget the dangers that lie
on the path of my ascent into the high mountain. The first and
principal danger lies in me – in the sinfulness of my heart. In
order that, upon ascending to that height, one is not dashed down from
it into the abyss, one must first have a pure heart. But I am covered
in sin. Woe will be me, if I shall not fight my pride and all of the
countless sins abiding within me. Woe unto me, if I, distracted by the
height of my coming service, will forget my monastic vows –
obedience, chastity, poverty. Reflecting on myself, I see that I lack
the strength to overcome and defeat alone this principal enemy. I ask
your aid, O hierarchs of God and all of my friends. Pray for me, that
the Lord might help me, a sinner, to struggle with my personal sins.
If I should gain this victory, then I will no longer fear the other
dangers lying on my path. But before I speak of them, allow me to
confess before you my understanding of the substance of hierarchal
service.
The
second canon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council reads, "[T]he
special treasure of our high priesthood is the oracles which have been
divinely delivered to us, that is the true science of the Divine
Scriptures." In other words, a hierarch must know how to
skillfully apply and attach to life those means which the Lord gave
for the salvation of the people through His Church. Just as in
medicine there is a limitless number of medicines that the skillful
and knowledgeable doctor must know how to apply to the sick, so has
our spiritual hospital many rich and varying resources, the aid of
which can make a mortal and perishable man immortal and eternal. These
divine resources for spiritual healing are encompassed in the
twenty-two books of the Old Testament, in the four Gospels, in the
Acts of the Holy Apostles, in the twenty-one Apostolic epistles, in
the Revelation to John the Theologian, as well as in the Apostolic
Canons, the seven Ecumenical and ten Local Councils, in the canons of
the holy fathers, and in the vitae of the saints. This is a boundless
and illimitable sea of divine wisdom, which God’s hierarch must
command and administer. Can a regular man really know all this and
apply it to the practical life of our age? Yes, such hierarchs
existed, who completely mastered the divine scriptures. Such were the
hierarchs of old – Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the
Theologian, Athanasius the Great, Cyril of Alexandria, Cyril of
Jerusalem, and many others like them. There were modern hierarchs, as
well, who were like unto them. So it was, according to the witness of
the Serbian Patriarch Varnava, with His Beatitude, our Metropolitan
Anthony, who was akin to the great hierarchs of the first centuries of
Christianity. And the whole history of our homeland is adorned, as
with stars, with great hierarchs, who united within themselves a holy
life and a complete knowledge of the divine scriptures. Such were the
Metropolitans of Moscow: Peter, Alexius, Jonah, Philip, Macarius,
Patriarch Nikon, and in the latter days the holy hierarch Theophan,
the Recluse of Vysha, the holy hierarch Ignatius Bryanchaninov, and
many others, who were inspired bearers of divine wisdom. And so, in
the face of these thoughts, my soul is troubled. Where do I think am I
going in all my wretchedness? How will I feel in this host of
luminaries?
However, in their extreme breadth, the divine scriptures have one
unifying idea, which is simple in the utmost. St. Athanasius the
Great, in his letter to Amun, wrote that, "By [God’s] Word, it is meant
that we should serve Him with a pure heart," while Basil the
Great adds that "God’s Law is the teacher of truth."
Here
are the two simple commandments that the hierarchal service before me
holds: 1) Serve God with a pure heart, and 2) Be a teacher of truth.
In order to fulfill these two commandments, I must always be a voice
of the Church. I must teach as the Church teaches: what the Church
accepts, so will I accept; what the Church sweeps away, so will I
sweep away. And always and in everything, both in Church matters and
in affairs of the world, I must bear witness to truth. Let no
falsehood ever leave my mouth. To say this is very simple, but in
order to actually do it, one must have self-denial, spiritual labor,
firm faith in the dogmas of the Church, and love toward the people.
Our epoch is a time when the dogmas of the Church are suffering a
great crisis in the social consciousness. And now there is no shortage
of Church figures who desire to serve Christianity, but to serve it in
a way in keeping with the circumstances of the times, the social mood,
or the understandings of practical politics, or their personal
understanding, but not in accordance with the dictates of the Holy
Scriptures. In our time, church life is governed primarily by
tradition, by routine order, by the demands of society. A conscious
following of the canons of the fathers is abandoned in a majority of
cases, and all strictness banished from the churches, as Basil the
Great said. And here I, with my sins, with my useless knowledge of the
divine scriptures, with my weak spiritual energies, hope to embark on
hierarchal service in this terrible time?
When I
think about all of this, I feel that, "I am not worthy to look
upon the height of Thy glory, O Lord," and if I were to hope on
my own strength, then I must run from you, O hierarchs of God, not
looking back, hiding from your call. But then, it is not so in God’s
Church as it is in the world – in the Church there is no isolation.
A faithful church figure cannot remain alone. He finds therein help
and support not only from his present-day friends, but also from
people who have lived before and from the angels of God. And so,
despite my own darkness, I see the light shining from the face of our
unforgettable and ever-memorable common teacher and father, His
Beatitude, Metropolitan Anthony, present here with us. He is here in
his spirit and through you, O hierarchs, because you are all the seal
of his apostleship. Hoping on his, my heart rejoices and is glad. I
feel that here with us, invisibly present, is our current Primate and
Laborer, His Eminence, Metropolitan Anastassy, from whose hands I was
made worthy to receive monastic tonsure, ordination to the priesthood,
and the blessing for hierarchal service.
From
this place, I send a full prostration to him across the ocean.
My
heart rejoices and is glad before you, my leader and father, Your
Eminence, Archbishop Vitaly. Under your protection and patronage,
hoping on your spiritual labors, I can live and work with ease. My
soul rejoices when I gaze upon you, O hierarch of God, Your Eminence,
Archbishop Tikhon. Moved by love for the Church and for me, a sinner,
you left your ninety-nine sheep and came here to call down the grace
of the All-Holy Spirit on me. I am glad also that you are here, Your
Grace, Bishop Seraphim, who opened unto me the doors of the
Brotherhood of St. Job of Pochaev, and now of Holy Trinity Monastery.
How fortunate am I that I belong to your family so dear to me. In
these moments, we also remember our two dear, gracious archpastors,
Their Eminences, Joasaph and Jerome, here with us in spirit. Here with
us also is the whole body of the Diasporan Russian hierarchs, who
together with our divinely wise Primate comprise a single soul.
My heart rejoices seeing you, O radiant children of the Church,
parishioners of the renowned Lakewood parish. It has always been a joy
to pray in your wonderful church, now expanded and enlarged by your
labors. I know that our Holy Ascension Cathedral in the Bronx, which I
fervently loved over two years of service, is with me now. My thoughts
turn to my first flock – to sunny Florida, to the dear city of
Miami, where our new church now stands; I recall not long ago spending
the unforgettable days of Pascha there, and the dear Miami
parishioners. My thoughts turn to my dear spiritual confessor and
monastic father, Archimandrite Averky; I recall the golden-domed
Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Geneva, with which it
was so hard to part; my thoughts go on to other friends in the Holy
Land, where now they, risking their lives, protect our holy places; my
thoughts carry on to the camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy, where
many friends languish, and where I had to serve with a great spiritual
upsurge in those years of wandering. So I feel now an embarrassment of
riches of the love directed at me, a sinner, through God’s Church,
and I can find no words in my tongue to express my feelings in
response.
Pray
and you, O hierarchs of God and all my friends, comprising Christ’s
Church, for me, a weak man and sinner, that the Lord might have mercy
on me and send down to me the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, which
always healeth that which is infirm and completeth that which is
lacking.
*) St. Alexander
Nevsky Parish in Lakewood was founded by Archbishop Vitaly in 1936 on
a piece of land donated to him by Julia M. Plavsky. This was the first
parish founded by Archbishop Vitaly in the United States, about which
Archbishop Vitaly wrote: "I pray God that this, my firstling, the
parish of St. Alexander Nevsky, might flourish as a tree planted at
the waters." The first rector, from 1937 to 1947, was Archpriest
Hierotheus Vorobyev; after his death until September 1949 was
Hieromonk Anthony, currently Archbishop of Western America, followed
by Protopresbyter V. Boschanovsky until his death in 1961; after him,
Hieromonk Anastasy; from September 1962, Archpriest Vladimir
Grigorovich, succeeded after his death on November 1, 1968 by Priest
Valery Lukianov. The longtime parish warden is V.M. Azhogin; the head
sister of the church sisterhood, M.A. Kozak. The parish developed
steadily from a little chapel to a well-established parish with a
school, library, and church buildings.
